Education and communication is important. It brings new people into the field, and helps grow those that are already part of the field, both of which are essential to long term growth and progress. Using phrases like “actual contribution” to refer to non-educational acts is entirely dismissive to the role that great educators play to in the march for progress. Where would you be today if such education was unavailable?

He contributed to pushing forward AI, no “actual” about it. The loss of a great educator should be viewed with just as much sadness as the loss of a great engineer.